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Coming of the Order
The Coming of the Order (sometimes simply called "the Coming") refers to the period between LY 897 and 903 during which The Order implemented The Plan, which led to the establishment of the Second Order in 904. It is also generally used to refer to the war which was one component of the Plan. This war (the first war in the history of The Land) was fought chiefly in 903, beginning on 20 Su'gin and officially ending on 29 Aut'yet, a little over five months later. However, there were a number of minor skirmishes lasting into 904, most notably the Laser Plot. (After the Chaos War of 912, it became common to refer to this war as the "Order War.") While the war is commonly thought of as having been between the Protestants and the Order, that is not technically the case. The Order may have been the driving force behind all that led to the establishment of the world government, but no member of the religious organization took any direct part in any armed conflict. It's true that the Order was deeply involved in the raising of military forces, in anticipation of Protestant dissent against the Plan; however, the armies and navies they helped raise had no direct connection to the Order itself, nor did any member of the Order hold any position of authority over the armed forces. Nor can the Second Order be said to have been one of the sides in the conflict, as it didn't officially exist as yet. There is, in fact, no one specific name that can be given to the side against which the Protestants fought, though some like to say it was "the Protestants against the world." Even that's something of a misnomer, considering "the world" wasn't yet a unified whole, which is rather the point (and it would be inconvenient as well as inaccurate to list every village individually; not only would it take too much time and/or space, but of course, the Protestant Movement itself was as much a part of the world's various villages as was its opposition). For this reason, the Coming was a "civil war," a term taken from Earth history, which describes a war between two sides within the same country. This is itself not entirely accurate in the case of the Coming, since there wasn't any country at all on the Land before the end of the war, and also because even on Earth, civil wars can often still be described in terms of actual geographic regions within said country, which was certainly not the case in this war (even if most combatants within the armies and navies raised by the Order hailed from the Northern Alliance). And so, the only way to really describe the opposing sides in the war is to say it was "the Protestants versus the Coming of the Order." Which means that the term "the Coming of the Order" actually has a third meaning: First, it was the sum total of the steps taken toward creating the Second Order, of which the war itself was just one; second, it was that one particular step; and third, it was one side in that war. The war officially ended on 29 Aut'yet, 903, a date which is celebrated each year as "Coming's End Day" (see Holidays of the Land), 20 days after the last major battle of the war (the Battle of Triscot). The Second Order was officially established on 8 Win'yet, 904, also known as "New Order Day," though it wasn't until 6 months later that the first official elections were held, and another 6 months after that (on 8 Win'yet, 905) that the first World Council took office, as well as the local councils of each village. Because of this, there are some who think of the Coming as having ended in 904, and still others who consider it to have ended in 905. However, the Plan called for a seven-year process during which time the world would be guided toward unification and modernization. Certain events which did not transpire until later had been predicted by the Plan, but were technically considered virtual certainties, following the steps which had been taken between 897 and 903. After Coming's End Day, the Order took no further actions to advance the Plan, but rather let events unfold of their own inertia. List of battles The following is a partial list of the major battles of the war: *Battle of Shipsister (20-25 Su'gin) *Battle of Plist (19-23 Su'yet) *Battle of Elves' Ambush (31 Su'yet) *Battle of East Ocean (12 Aut'gin) *Battle of Near Port (30-31 Aut'mo') *Battle of Triscot (9-10 Aut'yet) Category:History